security_cred_free(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so bestie, welcome to security_cred_free(9) — that's the Kernel API Manual, section 9, and yes we are reading manpages for fun now, this is the era we're in 💅

security_cred_free — free the cred's LSM blob and associated resources. that's it, that's the whole vibe. she cleans up, she says goodbye, she does not leave a mess behind ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

void security_cred_free (struct cred *cred );

no return value, no drama, just vibes and a pointer. icon behavior honestly 👑

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • cred — credentials. that's the whole description. the credentials whose stuff is getting freed. short, sweet, to the point, main character energy fr fr 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Deallocate and clear the cred->security field in a set of credentials.

like, literally that. the cred struct has this security field holding the LSM blob, and this function deallocates it and clears it. so the field goes back to being empty and the resources attached to it are released. no cap, that's the entire function. she's a cleanup girlie and she ate 💅

lowkey respect the restraint — not every function needs a paragraph. sometimes you just free the blob and go home 🏠

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

bestie. sit down. hydrate. this list is long and we're gonna get through it together, because every single one of these is part of the family and we do not skip family 🌈

first up, the file this all lives in: Kernel file ./security/security.c

🧚 the lsm_* helper girlies

🩰 binder + ptrace + caps + the classics

🌸 filesystem context + mount era

🎀 paths + inodes (this section is huge, stay with me)

🦋 files, mmap, and friends

👑 tasks + creds (our girl's home turf)

🍓 ipc — the trilogy (msg, shm, sem)

💜 dentry + procattr + secctx world

🌈 networking girlies

🧚 infiniband + xfrm

🫶 keys + audit

⭐ bpf, lockdown, bdev, perf, uring

iykyk that last group is a journey. anyway you made it. hydration check, bestie 🍓

and that's the whole page!! written from the ./security source, October 2026 edition — mwah, love that for us, go free those creds responsibly, periodt 💖🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from